Trump alienates UK's Teresa May with Twitter insults of London mayor

UK prime minister Teresa May had kind words for London mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday.

By Lucas Rowe |
Jun 06, 2017

UK prime minister Teresa May had kind words for London mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday. She told reporters that the mayor is doing a great job leading responses to Saturday's terrorist attack and that it is "wrong to say anything else."

Her remarks were a direct rebuke of President Trump, who set off a hostile Twitter exchange with the London mayor on Sunday after the mayor had said in a BBC interview that London residents should not be alarmed by the increased police presence. Trump derided the mayor on Twitter for this remark. After a spokesman for Khan said that Trump's tweet was "ill-informed" and not worthy of a response, Trump fired back on Monday with the following tweet: "Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his 'no reason to be alarmed' statement. MSM is working hard to sell it!"

Trump's social media director, Dan Scavino, got in on the fracas. He reupped a Khan tweet from May 2016 that warned that then-candidate Trump risked alienated Muslims, and inserted his own running commentary: "@MayorofLondon- refer to below tweet 13 months ago, after you criticized now President @realDonaldTrump --- and WAKE UP!!!!" Scavino wrote Sunday.

May told reporters that she is "not afraid to say" when she thinks Trump is in the wrong. She added that she is continuing to work with Khan, who attended a government emergency committee meeting with her in the wake of the attack.

She has the backing of the U.S. ambassador to London, Lewis Lukens, on this point. Lukens tweeted on Sunday that he commends "the strong leadership of the @MayorofLondon as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack."

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